Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Eusebius, EH.6.9-11: Narcissus and Alexander

Image: Arial view of modern Jerusalem

This is an occasional series of readings from and brief notes
and commentary upon Eusebius of Caesarea’s The
Ecclesiastical History: Book 6, chapters 9-11. Listen here.

Notes and Commentary:

These chapters focus on Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, and
his successor Alexander.

Chapter 9 begins with an account of a supposed
miracle performed by Narcissus during the Pascha when water was turned into oil
(cf. Christ’s turning water into wine in John 2).

It proceeds to tell of opposition to Narcissus, which
included slanderous charges against him. An anecdote is relayed about three
accusers who swore that if what they were saying about him was false, they
might, each in turn, be destroyed by fire, be wasted by disease, and be
blinded.

Though supported by the faithful Narcissus withdrew to the
desert for solitude.

The three accusers were recompensed by “the great eye of
Justice.” The first was burned to death with his family in a house-fire. The
second contracted a disease that covered him head to toe. The third, seeing
what had happened to the first two repented, but then cried so profusely that
he was blinded.

Chapter 10 relays that during Narcissus’s
retreat to the desert he was succeeded as bishop by Dius, then Germanion, and
then Gordius.

When he remerged from seclusion, he was once more appointed
“the presidency [epi tēn prostasin]”
by the brethren.

Chapter 11 records how that in his old age,
Narcissus was joined by Alexander in a joint ministry with him. Alexander was
summoned to this duty “by a revelation” which came to him at night, while in
Cappadocia. Those in Jerusalem received the same revelation.

A letter, which Eusebius claims is still extant, from
Alexander to one named Antinoites which mentions that Narcissus was around this
time 116 years old.

Attention then shifts from Jerusalem to Antioch. In Antioch,
Serapion was succeeded by Asclepiades, as cited in another letter by Alexander,
this one addressed to the church at Antioch, and delivered by the hand of
Clement of Alexandria.

Conclusion:

These chapters focus on the ministry of Narcissus and
Alexander and the extra-ordinary events associated with them. This focus likely
comes in the midst of the discussion of the life and ministry of Origen given
Alexander’s role in the appointment of Origen to the office of presbyter. As frequently
seen in Eusebius, the proper succession of bishops and the piety and
faithfulness of the bishops in Jerusalem and Antioch is stressed.